Counseling Provided To Van Buren Pupils After Teen Goes Missing

Van Buren School District's 15 school counselors, including the two assigned to Butterfield Junior High School, stand ready to help students cope this morning with their missing classmate, Angela Allen.

Teachers, administrators and counselors, in professional development training on Monday, met across the campus to discuss the situation and to ensure the schools were staffed-up, Superintendent Merle Dickerson said Monday.

The counselors will be on the district's campuses when students arrive, and they will be aided by the Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance Center and Arkansas Counseling and Associates. On call will be youth ministers and other area ministers, should the students desire their aid, Dickerson said.

Allen, 16, a Butterfield student, has been missing from her Van Buren home since the evening of Feb. 10. Her family reported her missing on Feb. 11 because she hadn't returned from a neighborhood walk.

Investigators arrested Lloyd Collin Jones, 36, on Thursday in Sebastian County on suspicion of aggravated assault in connection with the girl's disappearance. He is being held in the Sebastian County Detention Center.

Jones is a Level 3 sex offender convicted of the December 2000 rape of his estranged wife. Police contend Jones and Allen met on a social-media site and developed a relationship that included texting.

Investigators found female human remains inside a barrel on a Lavaca-area property belonging to members of Jones' family. Investigators have said the body wore clothing consistent with those worn by Allen when she disappeared. However, the identity of the remains and cause of death had not yet been officially determined Monday. An autopsy is planned today at the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory, according to Sebastian County Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck. Any additional charges against Jones will depend on the autopsy findings, Hollenbeck has said.

Dickerson said police and FBI agents were on the Butterfield campus last week, conducting an investigation, but nothing had been confirmed about the girl's whereabouts by the end of the school day Friday.

Allen has a sibling who also attends the junior high, and staff there will focus on sensitivity, Dickerson said. Students on other campuses who knew her may also want to talk to counselors, he said.

The Van Buren Police Department, Crawford County Sheriff's Department, Sebastian County Sheriff's Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the case.